Katrina film, Drunken Spelling Bee and a mock opera launch weekend

The V Side offers unique entertainment options from NolaVie: The weekend gets an early kickstart with a quartet of our alternative picks.

Thursday / Stylist Patrick Lomantini from Kansas is trying to set the Guinness World Record for haircuts, by giving 50 Haircuts in 50 States in 50 Days. His Louisiana stop (18^th) takes him to Kenneth’s Studio for Hair, 2100 St. Charles Ave., from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Thursday. Your $20 donation for the ‘do goes to the Louisiana SPCA. Call 528-858 for an appointment.

Thursday / School daze: Can our public schools rewrite their own history books? With Hurricane Katrina providing a once-in-a-millennium opportunity for an educational do-over, that’s the question tackled in The Experiment, a new documentary that follows five children as they navigate the shifting post-K educational landscape in New Orleans. With three-fourths of its schools now operating as charters, the Big Easy is cast in the film as “the great experiment” in 21^st century education. Join the conversation with a sneak preview of the Fleurish Productions movie on Thursday at the New Orleans Museum of Art. Nibbles and cocktails at 6 p.m. will be followed by the film premiere at 7. To RSVP to the event, click here.

Thursday / Speaking of education: You can’t buy a vowel, but you can get a free drink when you sign up for the Drunken Spelling Bee at Lost Love Lounge, 2925 Dauphine, from 7:30 to 10:30 p.m. Thursday. The $5 entry fee gets you a complimentary bar tab kick-off and a chance to spell, say, floccinaucinihilipilification (which means something is worthless, which kinda seemed a good word choice here). . No way? Arrive attired as a famous artist (or pay $2) and you get a second chance – and where else in life does one get that? A fundraiser for an October art show at T-LOT, the Bee will award prizes to top spellers (not top tipplers).

Thursday / With another birthday looming, opera singer Marina Morelli is considering plastic surgery – but the diva gets in a little too deeply when her estranged husband sets her up with a famous but slightly deranged surgical artist. The music soars and the body parts fly in the world premiere of Samantha Hubbs’ La Sirena: A Musical, opening at 8 p.m. Thursday and continuing through Aug. 28 at the All Ways Lounge and Theater, 2240 St. Claude Avenue. Vatican Lokey, Otter, Richard Mayer and Hubbs herself star in what directors Dennis Monn and Ratty Scurvics promise to be a twisted, bloody shock-rock opera that will leave its audience in stitches. Tickets are $12 online, $15 at the door; click here for more.

Saturday / Instructor Nina Boasso has added an 8:30 a.m. Saturday session to her Yoga at the Cabildo schedule. The class, for all levels, is held in a light-filled gallery of the historic Cabildo at Jackson Square. The $12 donation($6 for Friends of the Cabildo members) includes admission to the Louisiana State Museum, same place, so you can enrich both mind and body in a single outing. For more on New Orleans yoga studios, click here.

Saturday / Amazing race: Hot on the heels of last week’s Red Dress Run comes another wacky street event (we can’t call ‘em races, really, not in August in New Orleans). The Dat Nola Race pits teams of runners against one another in a two- to four-hour event that’s part adventure race and part scavenger hunt. Teams meet at 3 p.m. at a designated location and get the first of a set of clues that, theoretically, lead them through a series of locations to the finish line. Along the way, they might have to hail a streetcar, quaff a local brew, throw some beads or perform in front of an audience. Mother/daughter team Robin and Isabelle Whitfield came up with the idea a year or so ago, and oversee both private and public runs. Registration is $55 and includes a t-shirt, entry to any stops along the way, a gift bag, race souvenirs, prizes and, of course, the chance to humiliate yourself in front of a big audience. Who could resist?’

Saturday / Bring boogie-woogie shoes: The innovative local thespians behind the Cripple Creek Theatre Company are throwing one of their memorable parties to raise funds for upcoming productions. The Red, White and Blue Apocalypse Hoedown (“Bop Til Ya Drop!”), at 7 p.m. Saturday, begs for your best yokel attire for an evening of theater (a one-time presentation of Chicken Little), music (By and By and the Swamp Lilies, vittles,) libations and a big announcement: the group’s lineup for the 2011-2011 theater season. $20 at the door of Sweet Mama Pagan’s, 2636 Lepage in Mid-City near Esplanade and Broad.